A school project by my daughter Sheetal Jindal written in 2014
Bollywood has grown into one of the largest film industry in the world. Every 12 hours, a film is released. More than a billion people watch it with passion. Even people who cannot afford to buy food, buy tickets to these movies. Why do people do this? They do it because it is a part of their lives, real entertainment for them. But why is it so? It is a break from their mundane life, a chance to live their dreams and aspirations.
When we go to the movies we always hope for uniqueness, with new characters and a new plot. We also hope for it to never end. When we see the movie, we absorb it and think about it, sometimes discuss the scenes and plots for hours. We hum the songs, even if we don’t get the lyrics. We try to relate it with our daily lives; we empathise with the characters and draw inspiration from the protagonist. Indeed a lot of our real life moves are innately inspired by reel life observations.
Imagine a rickshaw driver, a young couple, a family of four and a few old people go to the cinema. They all expect to see something new, something which they have never seen, and something which is not a part of their lives. For example, the rickshaw driver would like to see an action packed movie, the old people would like a plot revolving around some young people or the family would like to watch a thriller. A girl of ten years, who goes to a good school and has 99% chance of becoming an engineer or doctor would want to see a movie about a girl like her and dreams of the remote possibility of becoming an actress or an Olympic swimmer. Everyone looks for the possibilities that are absent in their lives in movies.
The cinema provides action, romance, family drama, suspense for everyone to enjoy. And most of the times it is all rolled up in one! This is the power and uniqueness of Indian cinema. More importantly, all of these sequences bring about an unintentional social change, mindset change and innovation which define the power of cinema. Now, let us explore how and when it all began.
The Early Days
Until the end of the 19th century, films were being produced mainly in Europe and America. The first era of film production comprised of silent movies, which were dependant on background music and gestures by the actors. In 1896, six movies made by the Lumiere brothers were brought to India and shown in Watson Hall in Mumbai. These were the first movies shown in India and people loved them.
In 1913 , ‘The Life of Lord Jesus’, a film from Hollywood, came to India. As the name suggests, the film was about Lord Jesus. This inspired Dada Saheb Phalke to make a movie on Indian mythology. He decided to make it on Raja Harishchandra. He had to do everything on his own. He punched the reel himself, directed the actors, did the editing and washed the reel too. He also travelled in a bullock cart to show the movie to everyone. The audience loved it. The success of Raja Harishchandra started a chain of mythological movies, pulling the audience away from the foreign films. He made many more movies later on. Being a master of special effects and storytelling, his films were a hit. These films also went to the United States of America. To honour Dada Saheb Phalke, the Father of Indian Cinema, many film awards are named after him.
When the World War-1 started, India’s film production was curbed. During this period, American actors started to rise. Charlie Chaplin, the king of comedy, was a huge hit and later many actors copied his style and mannerisms; most notably Raj Kapoor.
American movies were so popular in India that French and German movies could not stand the ground. To target a greater outreach, Germans conceived a movie with fusion of Asian and German nuances. Thus, the movie “Light of Asia” was created. It was based on the life of Gautam Buddha. The lead actor was an Indian directed by a German. This hit a chord with the Indian audience. But the British tried to curb the film production in India and the tussle, like freedom struggle, continued.
Until this time, movies were silent and dependent on action. In 1927, speech came in movies. Songs were written and shown in movies. On average, there used to be around 25 songs at least in one movie. All the songs sung were done standing because the cameras were static.
Alam-ara was the first Indian movie with sound.
Since the freedom struggle was going on at that time, movies were made on national movements, praising the country and on the tussles between the rich and the poor. Films extolled the freedom movement and all the revolutionaries that were a part of it.
Films were made on other subjects too, such as romance and caste. Devdas was the first movie that glorified romance, starting a trend that continues till today. The movie ‘Achoot Kanya’ shattered the taboo on Indian caste system, where Devika Rani, a high caste Brahmin played an untouchable girl.
But why does cinema make us so passionate?
Maybe because it binds everyone-culturally, racially, and beyond regions. Maybe because it can make a Hindu celebrate Eid, or a Muslim burst firecrackers on Diwali. Or maybe because it can make anyone with a little talent succeed. It can make a bus conductor the icon of the nation (Rajnikanth).
Around the independence days, the movies were produced on the freedom struggle such as ‘Kismat’. A number of action movies were also made. After independence, the attention went to the plight of the farmers of our nation. Historical movies were produced on topics such as Alexander vs. Porus and on the partition of Bengal. Social issues such as poverty, class struggle and unemployment were brought into the light by movies. Movies were made on corruption too.
The Memorable Transition
In the fifties, movies on class struggle, finding meaning in life, social issues were dealt with. People like Guru Dutt deviated from ordinary topics and infused the brutal harshness of society and realism in their movies. Raj Kapoor through his film ‘Awara’ brought grandness, romance and great music into the industry. This made him popular in Asia and Russia too. Since independence, India was riding on a path of development. The movies being produced were grand and of many diverse topics. Mughle-Azam was a film of such high calibre, it left the audience awestruck.
This was the time when actors started to build up huge fan bases. Dev Anand, Raj Kapoor, Rajendra Kumar and Raj Kumar ruled the box office. Meena Kumari, Sadhana, Nutan and Asha Parekh were the dominating actresses of that period. This era of stardom started from Shammi Kapoor to Rajesh Khanna to Amitabh Bachchan all the way to Shah Rukh Khan. Plots of the movies ranged from families being lost and found, to love triangles, to friendship and also reincarnation. Motherhood and love between siblings were also a few topics that were used.
Bollywood has, from time to time, also highlighted crucial topics such as cancer, women emancipation, life of rape victims and dowry. These topics and their depiction in the movies created awareness amongst the society about them, more importantly provided novel ways of dealing with sombre issues.
The Modern Era
In the last 35 years, Bollywood has come of age. The nation went through emergency and political turmoil. The youth identified with the depiction of “angry young man”. Amitabh Bachchan portrayed the angry young man in most movies. Many movies depicted the social change: The 80’s also saw the emergence of art movies such as ‘Paar’, ‘Ardh Satya’, ‘Sparsh’ and ‘Arth’, which ultimately merged with the mainstream in the 90’s.
The Amitabh era ended and entered the romantic and youth oriented era of movies. The three most famous actors-Aamir Khan, Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan started their career in the early 90’s and are still ruling the Indian film industry.
Music was widely used as a source of promoting movies with music records reaching high sales until the era of digital music ended that.
Today, Bollywood has no bounds. It has been reaching all types of film festivals such as the Oscar and Cannes. Movies are made on various topics and have diverse plots. Earnings have reached an excess of 500 crores with Dhoom 3.
A few path-breaking movies of the past years – The Journey
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